264 ^^6 Philippine Journal of Science mi 



gering total, there are many other defectives, who are not in 

 institutions and who are a constant menace to society, 



Davenport's views on the question of the best methods of 

 diminishing the transmission of undesirable physical and mental 

 traits are perfectly definite. After discussing the sterilization 

 of the unfit from various points of view, he concludes that the 

 lower grades should be segregated in institutions, while the 

 nearly normal people should be educated as to fit and unfit 

 matings. 



This is one of the few subjects that he has not treated in a 

 satisfactory manner, as many persons might feel that his own 

 tables could be easily interpreted to confute the author's con- 

 clusions as to the social expediency of the marriage of the higher 

 grades of the mentally defective, while the expense of the pro- 

 posed adequate segregation would be prohibitive. 



However, he is not unaware of the logical deductions from his 

 presentation of the facts, for he writes, "There is no question 

 that if every feeble-minded, epileptic, insane, or criminalistic 

 person now in the United States were operated on this year 

 there would be an enormous reduction of the population of our 

 institutions 25 or 30 years hence; * * *." 



A more complete discussion of the relation of drunkenness to 

 defectiveness would add to the usefulness of the book, as some 

 authors regard alcoholism as the cause of deficiency, while al- 

 most all feel that the two are very intimately related. There- 

 fore it may be desirable to include drunkards in the list of those 

 who should not be permitted to burden society with their progeny. 



Apparently the author's sympathy for the individuals who 

 are less favored by nature tends, in this instance, to outweigh 

 the interests of society, and he may possibly place too much 

 importance upon the usefulness to society of the offspring of 

 the high-grade defectives. 



On the other hand, he emphasizes the importance of proper 

 marriage in the words "proper matings are the greatest means 

 of permanently improving the human race — of saving it from 

 imbecility, poverty, disease, and immorality." 



The section on the sociological aspect of eugenics is of especial 

 interest, for his explanation "the traits of the feeble-minded 

 and the criminalistic are normal traits for infants and for earlier 

 stages in man's evolution" gives an additional instance of the 

 biological truth that "the individual (ontos) in its development 

 passes through stages like those the race (phylum) has traversed 

 in its evolution." We are forced "to conclude that these traits 

 have come to us directly from our animal ancestry and have 



